(NaturalNews) According to a U.S. government survey just published, rates of autism in children have doubled since 2003. Today, an estimated 1 in 91 children are being diagnosed with autism, making this the highest rate in any population in the history of human civilization. Meanwhile, the vaccination push in America continues, specifically targeting children with not just seasonal flu vaccines (which may contain thimerosal), but also the H1N1 swine flu vaccine.

It all begs the question: Is there a link between vaccines and autism?

In defending vaccines, many doctors have blamed autism on a genetic cause. But if it's genetic, why are rates skyrocketing so quickly? The gene pool obviously isn't changing that dramatically. There's no such thing as a "genetic epidemic." If genes caused autism, the rate of autism diagnosis should be holding steady year after year. Clearly, something else is at work, causing the sharp increase in autism.

Autism is a neurological disorder. If you're looking for the cause of autism, it only makes sense to look at causes involving environmental factors that expose children to chemicals linked to neurological disorders. Vaccines immediately come to mind, not only because they contain thimerosal -- a preservative made with methyl mercury that's extremely toxic to the nervous system -- but also because they contain chemical adjuvants like squalene, which directly cause inflammation of the nervous system.

So what happens when a nutrient-deficient child is exposed to more than one hundred vaccines injected with thimerosal, squalene and other chemicals? It's not unreasonable to suspect that vaccines -- which inject these chemicals directly into the body -- might be one of the more obvious causes.

The pharmaceutical industry (which thrives on vaccines) claims there is absolutely no link between vaccines and autism. Well of course they do! The entire future of pharmaceutical profit-making depends on the continued propagandizing of the myth that chemical intervention improves human health. They're no more likely to find fault with their own vaccines than a cigarette company is to admit cigarettes cause cancer.

"Asking the pharmaceutical industry to investigate the safety of vaccines is like asking Big Tobacco to investigate the safety of cigarettes.

What's clear is that rates have autism have paralleled the rise in children's vaccines. Each year we get more vaccines pushed onto children, and each year we see increases in autism. Given that many vaccines contain a neurotoxic heavy metal (mercury) and neurotoxic adjuvants, it only seems reasonable to start looking at vaccines as one of the important contributing factors (if not the main cause) of autism.

Other factors for autism

There are likely other factors involved, and their danger potentially gets multiplied in the presence of methyl mercury from vaccines. Monosodium glutamate (MSG), for example, is a neurotoxin, too, and kids today are eating more and more foods laced with MSG as flavor enhancers. (It's found in canned soups, gravy mixes, salad dressings, snack dips, and virtually all "instant" microwaveable meals.) Look for "yeast extract" on food labels: It's a covert source of MSG that manufacturers use to avoid having to place "MSG" on the ingredients label.

There's also aspartame and diet sodas. Aspartame is a potent neurotoxin that could be making the nervous system especially vulnerable to damage from vaccines. Beyond chemical food ingredients, the human nervous system can also be compromised by pain drugs administered during childbirth, antidepressant drugs or diabetes drugs given to expectant mothers, or even the highly toxic chemicals commonly found in "baby care" products used in hospitals around the world.

Even before they're born, most first-world babies are exposed to a toxic stew of synthetic chemicals. The chemical invasion of a vaccine injection might be the one final blow that sends the nervous system in a downward spiral of destruction.

The facts cannot be denied: Our children are being neurologically poisoned by chemicals, and vaccines are one of the most worrisome sources of chemical suspects. In my opinion, any parent subjecting their child to vaccines today is directly putting their child in harm's way. They are risking their child's life in order to comply with a highly unethical, profit-focused vaccine push that has but one objective: To sell more dangerous pharmaceutical chemicals to children who don't need them.

There will be a day in the future, I'm sure, when injecting a child with a neurotic chemical will be considered a felony crime, punishable by years in prison. Until that day comes, this same criminal act is innocuously called "administering a vaccine."

About the author:Mike Adams (aka the "Health Ranger") is a best selling author (#1 best selling science book on Amazon.com) and a globally recognized scientific researcher in clean foods. He serves as the founding editor of NaturalNews.com and the lab science director of an internationally accredited (ISO 17025) analytical laboratory known as CWC Labs. There, he was awarded a Certificate of Excellence for achieving extremely high accuracy in the analysis of toxic elements in unknown water samples using ICP-MS instrumentation. Adams is also highly proficient in running liquid chromatography, ion chromatography and mass spectrometry time-of-flight analytical instrumentation.

Adams is a person of color whose descendents include Africans and American Indians. He self-identifies as being of American Indian heritage, which he credits as inspiring his "Health Ranger" passion for protecting life and nature against the destruction caused by chemicals, heavy metals and other forms of pollution.

Adams is the founder and publisher of the open source science journal Natural Science Journal, the author of numerous peer-reviewed science papers published by the journal, and the author of the world's first book that published ICP-MS heavy metals analysis results for foods, dietary supplements, pet food, spices and fast food. The book is entitled Food Forensics and is published by BenBella Books.

In addition to his lab work, Adams is also the (non-paid) executive director of the non-profit Consumer Wellness Center (CWC), an organization that redirects 100% of its donations receipts to grant programs that teach children and women how to grow their own food or vastly improve their nutrition. Through the non-profit CWC, Adams also launched Nutrition Rescue, a program that donates essential vitamins to people in need. Click here to see some of the CWC success stories.

With a background in science and software technology, Adams is the original founder of the email newsletter technology company known as Arial Software. Using his technical experience combined with his love for natural health, Adams developed and deployed the content management system currently driving NaturalNews.com. He also engineered the high-level statistical algorithms that power SCIENCE.naturalnews.com, a massive research resource featuring over 10 million scientific studies.